Palm Tavern has been sold, will close for “some retooling” on February 17

Last February, we reported that Palm Tavern was for sale. One year later, the venerable Bay View beer bar has been sold. According to staff members and an Instagram post from current owner Bruno Johnson, the property at 2989 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. (which has been home to Palm Tavern since 2003) has been purchased. The bar’s final day in business—at least under its current ownership—will be Sunday, February 17. Johnson says Palm “will close for some retooling and a touch of management change on Monday the 18th [of February].”

Palm Tavern opened more than 15 years ago, long before Bay View was a bastion of bars and restaurants with excellent beer selections and hundreds of liquor options on hand. In the years that followed, the small neighborhood bar established itself as one of Milwaukee’s first and finest craft beer bars and pushed its incomparable arsenal of whiskey and bourbon varieties past the 450 mark. Draft Magazine once called Palm Tavern “one of America’s best beer bars.”

Check back for more updates on the status of the bar under its new ownership. Though Johnson’s post hints at an eventual “reopening,” you only have a few more days to say goodbye to Palm Tavern as you know it.